Korean Native Nurtures Peninsula Soccer

Yu Develops Players With Youth School

NEWPORT NEWS — It doesn't take much to get Johnny Yu to talk about soccer.

Basically, just walk into his KS World Cup soccer store on Warwick Boulevard, or ring him up on the phone. He's raring to go.

Yu, a local soccer maven, runs a youth soccer school in the evening on two fields behind his school. He's also trying to put together some traveling club teams for youngsters on the Peninsula.

The travel team is the latest step in his grand plan for soccer on the Peninsula, which is slowly evolving. It began with the school, and he hopes eventually there will be a professional soccer team here.

Yu is originally from South Korea, where soccer is one of the most popular sports. He went to Ferguson High School and played soccer for Campbell University, as well as in the professional American Soccer League. He also has coached Peninsula Catholic High School's team.

Yu opened his store and began teaching soccer skills to a couple of children in 1990. Since then, his program has grown to include more than 100 players. The school is an eight-week program that teaches fundamentals and discipline.

Yu believes that this is the key to the Peninsula's soccer players eventually reaching the levels of success of those in Virginia Beach and Williamsburg. A handful of players from this area, both boys and girls, have made Olympic Development Program teams in recent years, and many of them have trained at Yu's school.

Natalie Stallings was one of the first students at Yu's school. In 1993, at age 12, she made the state Under-13 Olympic Development team.

Stallings, now 13, currently competes on the state Under-14 Olympic Development team. This spring, as an eighth-grader at Poquoson Middle School, she played on Poquoson High's junior varsity.

Yu said that some of the players who attended his school have become affiliated with other club teams because they had outgrown the program. So he's trying to give them something toward which to advance.

The traveling club teams, called Peninsula United, would bring the best local players in each age group together and send them on the road against upper-level competition in the state and region.

Yu recently held tryouts and still is looking for talented players for these new elite teams.

He said he is trying to get corporate sponsorship to defray some of the costs. He said that money is not the motivator behind his school or the new teams.

``A lot of people have shied away from the program because in their personal opinion, they think we're trying to make money,'' Yu said. ``If you look at the time and effort involved, it's not for the money. We're looking to entice local businesses to sponsor the teams to cut the costs of their playing.''

The program is open to both boys and girls, and he is also looking for experienced, quality coaches.

The club teams are broken down by age groups: Under-11, Under-12, Under-14 and a developmental squad for Under-10.

Dee Dee Mausteller, mother of two players at the KS school, is thrilled with the travel teams' formation. Her son Michael has been at the school for two years and recently made the Under-11 travel team.

``The school is wonderful,'' she said. ``Michael has improved so much. It's just the greatest thing that's hit this area. The quality of instruction is superb.''

She said that before the formation of the travel team, she had to drive her son to three different locations each week. He attended KS School, as well as playing select and rec-league soccer.

``Now, we can just go to Johnny's place for everything,'' Mrs. Mausteller said.

(Yu is happy about the new teams for other reasons.

) ("Six years ago I was thinking about this." Yu said. "The kids we've trained for four years are starting to be good, and they need to be around better players. ... Years from now, they'll have a chance to become coaches and teachers.")